Love Strikes Out
by newbienovelistRD
Summary: It's Valentine's day, and Katherine is confident that she'll finally confess her feelings to the Guardian she's always loved. But will it go well or downhill?


**Here's a Valentine's Day story done by Redbat132 and myself. Enjoy and no flames please.**

**Redbat132: A little something I wanted to write for a long bit. All acoustic guitar songs I imagine my character Lea playing here in the story are played by Andrew Foy. You can find them in YouTube. His guitar playing is very nice.**

**I also want to thank a DeviantArt user named katgirl28 on a story called 'Cupid: Jack Frost x Reader' for the inspiration on a particular situation I got in this story but used differently in the one RD and I made. Not sure if this user comes here, but just in case, I wanted to give this specific user credit, too.**

**Hope you all enjoy.**

* * *

Located in a treehouse estate called the Ganderly, Katherine was sleeping peacefully in her fluffy bed. It didn't take long for Kailash the Himalayan Snow Goose to come in and nudged her 'mother' to wake up.

Chuckling, Katherine slowly woke up and stretched before yawning. "Good morning, Kailash. Ready for another thrilling day?"

Kailash honked in response, as if telling her yes.

As soon as she got dressed, Kate checked the date to see it was Valentine's Day. Much to her excitement.

"This is it, Kailash. Today's the day I finally get to tell Jack Frost how much he means to me," Katherine responded with a smile.

Barely few know this, but Katherine has strong feelings for Jack Frost. Always have from the start when and how he first became a Winter Spirit. She has crushed on Jack Frost for hundreds of years to the point that she doesn't show it anymore. And she once tried to interfere in helping him, if Father Time hadn't stopped her. The only hope she had was Father Time telling her that, on Valentine's day, Jack will reveal his true feelings for Kate. However, Father Time never told her which Valentine's day that event will happen.

Which is why, every year on that day, Katherine would write a different love poem about Jack Frost in hopes to give one of them to him. She made practically one for every passing Valentine's Day that's now turned into a book, since she couldn't throw away her work.

"With the Guardians now aware of my existence, I no longer have to be hiding in secret and give Jack the best Valentine's Day he never had,"

Before starting her day, the female Guardian went to her desk and began writing her personal thoughts through poem form:

Hair white and sparkly as snow,

And his smile that makes me glow.

Eyes so mesmerizing icy blue,

I get lost in them, which is true.

Always causing mischief everywhere he goes,

Especially when his magic keeps nipping my nose.

I wish to tell him how I feel,

But I worry my love for him is not real.

Three-hundred years have I been trying,

Yet I always end up alone and crying.

No more tears shall I shed today,

For I am keeping my doubts at bay.

This is where I cross the line,

And ask him to be mine.

As my Valentine.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lea was walking around Central Park to enjoy the special holiday of Valentine's Day. School already finished, and the blonde teen wanted to spent the rest of the day by herself…Well, maybe not by herself. She even brought Nightlight along and her acoustic guitar.

_'It's been ages since I played guitar. And playing inside home feels a bit a boring sometimes. I'll just play a few songs here before checking on the Guardians to give their Valentine gifts I made for them,'_ Lea thought, already sitting down on a bench and got out her guitar to play.

Taking a deep breath, Lea closed her eyes and let her fingers strum on the strings to form some amazing music. She played 'I Love You 300' by Stephanie Poetri. Which was a fitting song for today. Lea even hummed the song a bit with a soft smile showing. To her, playing the acoustic guitar made her feel close to her deceased grandfather, James. Although he and Grandma Laura are no longer around, Lea kept their love alive close to her heart.

Nightlight, whom was hiding from being seen by anyone coming, stared at Lea in wonder. He just loved his human friend playing confidently and happy. The little wooden toy bobbed his head a bit from the beat of Lea's music. Another thing he noticed was both Lea's crystal bracelet and himself were glowing a little. As if Lea's happiness in playing the guitar was showing through both the magical items.

Turns out, distance away, her playing was drawing the attention of a certain Winter Spirit while causing some small mischief with his ice and wind powers.

"Sounds like Lea is getting in the Valentine spirit with her gift from us," Jack said with a smile, already flying at high speed to check on his human friend. "Now this I got to see."

However, somewhere in the park, Jack Frost wasn't the only magical being enjoying Lea's music. Especially when it's helping his job in bringing a man and woman together that were soon to fall in love with each other.

"Targets acquired," the mysterious figure whispered to himself, pulling a red-tipped, heart-shaped arrow and marked it into his bow.

Raising his arms, the figure takes his marks and pulled the string back where his muscles assisted in holding the bow and arrow steady while waiting for the right moment to release.

Meanwhile, Lea continued playing happily with Nightlight grooving.

Just then, Nightlight heard a familiar cry of pain. Curious and not wanting to interrupt his friend's playing just yet, the wooden toy got off the bench and investigated on where the sound came from. In his view, he saw a man catching a woman from slipping on what looked like ice from the floor and appeared to fall in love at first sight before slow dancing from Lea's guitar playing. It didn't take Nightlight long to hear a familiar moan and turned to see who it came from. In slight shock, the being that was hurt was Jack Frost. The Winter Spirit looked unconscious on the ground with his face on the grass.

Thinking he needs to warn Lea, Nightlight hurried back to the bench. Just in time for Lea to finish the song she was playing.

"Nightlight? You're not supposed to stray from me in the park," Lea responded, noticing her friend was trying to tell her something. "What's the matter?"

The wooden toy got his staff out and laid it on his shoulders the way Jack Frost would. Then, he went down flat on his face with his hand on his side to indicate he might be hurt.

Lea stared with wide eyes in shock. "Jack Frost is injured somewhere close to the park?! Show me!" she placed the guitar on her back before picking Nightlight up and running off.

As she rushed to look for Jack, with the help from Nightlight's guidance, Lea started to hear a voice that didn't belong to her Winter friend.

"What in the name Eros?! That wasn't supposed to happen!"

Curious, the blonde teen pushed some bushes apart to see not only Jack Frost lying on the ground unconscious but also a strange boy examining him by crouching down.

He appeared to have light skin, brown hair, and deep blue eyes underneath his black glasses with the edges red. His clothes were a white polo shirt, black suspenders with red hearts, tanned pants, red watch on his right wrist. and white and gold sneakers that have spikes on the sides that resemble wings of an angel.

To Lea, there was something off about this boy. Along with the fact that he can SEE Jack Frost. Which not many people believe nor see him. Even someone in that age.

"Hey! Step away from the Frost Spirit!" Lea announced, getting in a fighting position with Nightlight on her shoulder and carrying his diamonded staff up.

"Huh?!" the teen boy looked to notice Lea's presence in surprise. "You can see us?"

"Of course, I can see you about to hurt my friend! What I want to know is, what did you do to him?!" Lea replied, not leaving her heavy glare at him. "Are you another evil Nightmare working for Pitch Black? Because I'm not afraid to go against those creeps again like last time."

Blinking once, the teen boy stood up with his hands raised. "Whoa, easy there. I'm not a Nightmare. And I clearly don't work for the Boogeyman. If anything, I thought it was one of his dark creatures trying to ruin my work in blocking my love arrow on a couple. Especially on Valentine's Day."

"Love arrow?" Lea questioned, slowly putting two and two together. "Wait…Are you telling me that you're…Cupid!?"

On cue, the teen boy revealed to have golden wings with white on his back and summoned a bow and arrows from his watch. The bow also appeared as a lyre.

"In a way, yes. My name is Lyran Desire. I'm the Cupid in charge of helping people find the right love match on this dimension," the teen named Lyran explained with a caring smile and putting his hands down. "And I know you're Lea Thompson. The human teen girl who is friends with the Guardians of Childhood. Along with the little guy on your shoulder is a wooden childhood toy friend you call Nightlight. Nice to finally meet you both."

Sensing he's telling the truth, Nightlight put away his weapon and waved hello with a friendly smile.

The blonde teen was seriously shocked. Not the fact that he knows who she is. But the fact that this guy is THE Cupid. Lea always thought that Cupid would be more romantic, suave, and super dashing. Or some strange being in a diaper. Then again, most of the myths and legends Lea has met were completely different than she expected them to be.

Lyran chuckled lightly from Lea's reaction. "Let me guess. You weren't expecting someone like me to be Cupid?"

"Well…Yeah," Lea admitted, only to realize it came out a little offensive. "I mean, yes, you're not at all what I expected Cupid to be, but not in a bad. You seem better than what people think of what the God of Love looks and acts like."

"Exactly. Not all Cupids are the same. For me, when it comes to love, I don't have to be a smooth operator, as you would call it. I can just handle my job by being myself," Lyran agreed, now looking back on the knocked-out Winter Spirit. "Speaking of my job, I need to check on Jack Frost and make sure he's not badly hurt."

"Oh, right! Let me help!" Lea exclaimed, already running pass Lyran and getting down on her knees next to Jack in seeing what's wrong.

When she flipped Jack to face her and lift his back with one hand to sit, the blonde the noticed an arrow on his chest that startled her.

"AHHH! Jack's been stabbed!" she nearly screamed in panic.

"Relax, Lea. He's not completely stabbed," Lyran assured, hurrying over on the other side of Jack and carefully getting the arrow off him without any damage. "My arrow only hit him the way a paintball or baseball would at a high speed on someone. They work differently on other magical beings than humans."

"How did this happen?!" Lea exclaimed, now feeling Nightlight get off her shoulder to get a better look at Jack.

"Remember earlier when I said that I thought a Nightmare tried to ruin my work by blocking my love arrow on a couple? Well, you see, after I made the shot, I think Jack passed by in pranking my targets on the last second and took the arrow instead," Lyran explained, now using his watch to scan and magically take the arrow inside it. "My arrows normally fade away and are painless when hitting their targets. Then again, I've never hit another spirit with my love arrows before…Well, not on purpose, anyway."

Groaning a bit, Jack slowly opened his eyes and rubbed his head.

"Jack! Are you okay?" Lea questioned with concern, placing a hand on his face to check his temperature. Which, is usually cold and not much warm.

"Uh, Lea? I wouldn't recommend getting too close for him to make eye contact with you," Lyran warned, sounding a bit worried.

"What do you mean?" She asked in confusion.

Before Lyran answered, Jack swooped in and got really close to Lea. Uncomfortably close. "Hello, Lea," he responded so smoothly.

Lea froze. "Uh, hi?"

"Oh, hearts," Lyran responded, facepalming.

Nightlight, whom was on the ground, was totally lost on what seemed to be going on.

"Jack, are you feeling all right?" Lea questioned, getting a bit uneasy about the closeness.

The blonde teen yelped when Jack wrapped his arms around her.

"I've never felt better!" Without warning, Jack kissed Lea right on the mouth.

This caught the blonde teen off guard, unable to fight out of this. To her, it was like breathing a winter breeze mint. She had mixed feeling about it.

Just then, Katherine was walking at the park to meet with Lea. However, when taking a turn, she was shocked to see Lea and Jack kissing each other passionately.

"Jack…" Katherine muttered, unable to hold back her tears.

Nightlight turned to notice the Guardian of Imagination ready the cry before running away from what she just saw.

Lea managed to pull Jack off her. She gasped for air. Despite having cold lips, Jack Frost kissed Lea with such burning passion.

"Jack, what the heck?!" Lea nearly shouted, moving away from the Winter Spirit. "Lyran! Explanation?!"

"It's just as I feared. My love arrow seems to have made an aftereffect on Jack Frost, due to him being a magical spirit, and has fallen in love with the first girl he sees: you, Lea," Lyran replied, getting his watch to appear some magic-like hologram of information. "There's got to be something in the Cupid Guide Book for situations like this."

Lea screamed around in fright, trying to lose this Lovesick Guardian off her tail. But it all seemed like a fun game to Jack. Like cat and mouse. With Jack as the cat and Lea as the mouse.

"I'm coming to get you, my snowflake!" Jack sang playfully.

"Jack! Stay away!" Lea screamed, running for her life.

It didn't take long for Jack to wrap his arms around Lea's torso, lifted her up from the ground, and started tickling around her stomach plus sides.

"EEEEK! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! JAHAHAHACK, NO! STAHAHAHAHAP! THAT TIHIHIHICKLES!" Lea laughed, kicking her legs in mid-air.

"Nope, sorry. Physically can't. The temptation is too strong," Jack teased, tickling harder.

Lyran started to panic, realizing there was no time to look at his guide. "I gotta nip this in the bud before it gets worse!"

Nightlight nodded his head in agreement. Not wasting time, the little wooden toy hurried towards the Lovesick Guardian and climbed up. Then, Nightlight managed to grab Jack's hood and stretched it forward to cover his face that distracted him long enough for Lyran to pull Lea out of the Winter Spirit's hold. Along with firing an arrow from his lyre bow that trapped Jack in a magic-proofed net that tied him to a nearby tree.

"That will keep him busy for a while," Lyran responded.

Once getting her breath back, Lea grabbed Lyran by the arm and ran. Along with Nightlight jumping away from Jack and grabbed on to the blonde teen's jacket around her waist.

"Quick! Let's get out of here before Jack puts me in another tickle attack on my feet this time!" Lea exclaimed. "Nightlight, snow globe!"

Nodding his head, the wooden toy went into her jacket pocket and brought out one of the magic teleporting snow globes from inside before tossing it to Lea.

"Time to buy us a little more time," Lea responded, concentrating on where she wants to go before throwing the snow globe forward to create a magic portal.

The blonde teen, her wooden toy, and new love spirit friend wasted no time running through the magic doorway that closed after going in.

Jack soon freeze the net and got out of there around the same time Lea escaped.

"You can't hide forever, my precious snowflake. I'm gonna find and get you," Jack said playfully with a mischievous grin, already taking off to look for Lea.

* * *

Soon, Lea and Nightlight found themselves slamming into a huge man's belly. Falling backward, Lea shook her senses back in her head and looked up to see North.

"Lea! So good to see you and Nightlight!" North said in his jolly attitude, already picking the human girl and her friend up. "It has been too long. How are things with you?"

"Right now, taking a crazy turn!" Lea answered, moving behind North in panic. "We need to barricade the workshop before he figures out where we're at! Stat!"

This brought the Guardian of Wonder's attention. "Calm down, Lea. Who might be coming here? Is it Pitch? His Nightmares? A new dangerous ally the Boogeyman has made to harm the children?"

"Worse! It's Jack Frost gone super insane with love who wants to smother me with endless kisses and tickles!" Lea responded in fear, already feeling Nightlight try to calm her down on her shoulder.

North stayed quiet for a few seconds in processing this before laughing. As if this was all some practical joke. However, he stopped when seeing Lea's scared face turned into an angry one.

"Oh…You were serious?" North questioned, watching Nightlight answer with a nod plus peeved look. "I guess that would probably explain why Lyran is here with you. How are things at your world anyway?"

"You know, same old Greek stuff, North," Lyran shrugged.

"Let's get back on topic here. Like how there's a Winter Spirit that under a love spell out there looking for me!" Lea reminded, turning her head to the Cupid of her world. "Lyran, you're the Cupid here. Can't you just use your arrows to snap him out of it?"

The Cupid Teen shook his head, still checking on his hologram guide from his wristwatch. "No, that's not how it works. Love is a force of nature. You can't just stop it with the same arrows. The results can be disastrous."

"So, I'm doomed to have my favorite myth haunt me with endless love for the rest of my life?!" the blonde teen exclaimed, groaning in sadness. "I can't live like this!"

"But I thought you liked Jack?" North pointed out.

"Of course, I like Jack. I think of him as this playful, older brother I look up to. I like him as a friend who helps inspire others in finding the fun in all things Winter. Not under the influence of a magic love arrow that won't give me personal space," the blonde teen reasoned. "I want the old Guardian of Fun, Jack Frost, I admired since I was a kid back."

"Aha! I think I found it!" Lyran announced happily. "I found the answers of how to undo this mistake!"

"You did?! Oh, thank goodness," Lea sighed in relief. "What's the cure?"

"Okay, from what I got, there are two ways in reversing the love spell. One involves using special flowers called mood roses that can only be grown by cherubs," Lyran explained, already showing the hologram image of the flower to his friends. "They're supposed to be used as a remedy for love fever and reveal the person's true feelings toward the recipient."

"From what I just witnessed, I'd say that's exactly what Jack is going through," Lea remarked. "How soon can you get these mood roses?"

"Well, I know where to find and get them. But I'll need time," Lyran answered. "These flowers are known at one place only: my home. In the garden of Eros."

"And what is the second option? You mentioned there was two ways in curing Jack," North reminded.

"The second way of reversing Jack's condition is using real love by someone who loves him as more than a friend," Lyran flipped the next hologram from his wristwatch to show an image of a male figure and a female both in love with each other. "However, I'm not sure if there's anyone like that. Not in time,"

Gasping silently in realization, Nightlight got off Lea's shoulder and waved his arms to get everyone's attention.

"What is it, Nightlight?" Lea said, watching her friend tell her something by pointing at Lyran's holo-picture of the second option in breaking the love spell. "You think you know who might be Jack's true love to help snap him out of the Love Fever?"

The Guardian of Courage nodded happily, placing his fists on his hips heroically.

"But who? And where can we find them?" Lyran asked Nightlight.

Glad the Cupid Teen asked, Nightlight got his staff and pointed it at Lea's bracelet. Most specifically, the magenta charm with a white goose on it.

When making out what her wooden toy friend was saying, Lea gasped. "Katherine! Of course! The first time I met her, she told me how much of a major fan she was of Jack Frost. And it would explain why her silhouetted painting of him had more detailed patterns than the other Guardians'. Kate must have strong feelings for Jack!"

"Then we better find her and bring her to Jack!" said Lyran, turning off his wristwatch hologram feature. "Onward!"

"North, could you please use one of your snow globes to take us to the Golden Goose Bookstore?" Lea asked politely. "I already used mine to get here."

North took out a snow globe from his pocket. "You got it."

* * *

A few minutes later, Lea and her friends made it inside the Golden Goose Bookstore. However, it appeared to be closed with all the lights off.

"Whoa. What is this place?" Lyran questioned, amazed at all the books stacked here.

"It's a bookstore. Katherine works here as a cover when being the Guardian of Imagination. She must be out on another mission or something," Lea noted. "We better split up and search for any clues on where she might be."

As the gang looked around, Lea spotted something on the desk. It looked like a blank book with something as a bookmark in between the pages.

"Huh? What's this?" She picked up the book, opened to see a piece of paper written inside, and read it.

"My heart has been broken,

And how I wish it to be unspoken.

The one I love has shown what he has been feeling,

And I will admit, they were not so concealing.

His love, however, was not for me,

They were for another that all could see.

It is clear Valentine's Day was nothing but a lie,

For love is not real and the truth makes me cry.

I waited so much for this day to come this long,

Now I wonder, where did it all go wrong?

Jack Frost, the Spirit of Winter I always loved,

Deserves this happiness; with me, Katherine, unbeloved...

Lea stared in shock, finishing what she just read. "Oh, no. Guys! I found something!"

Not long, Nightlight and Lyran came to where Lea was to see her worried plus shocked.

"What's wrong? Did you find where Katherine is?" Lyran questioned.

"Not exactly. I found this that explains she's gone heartbroken," Lea explained, showing the sad poem. "Kate must have spotted me kissing Jack at the park and thought he had true feelings for me. She was gonna tell him today, but never could, after what she saw. What am I gonna do now?!"

"We gotta find her! And fast! But where is she?!" Lyran asked.

"Well, if she's not in the bookstore, then our best bet is the Ganderly," Lea responded. "But even if we do find Kate, she'll be too heartbroken to listen to reason. Not to mention avoid everyone in solitude to cope what happened. Believe me, I've seen love drama multiple times in school."

Just then, Nightlight got an idea that was so good, he grabbed a pen and began drawing what it is. Lyran and Lea looked over to see an image of a love sick Jack with hearts in his eyes. Then, a drawing of Jack reading what looked like the same sad poem Lea found. Next, Jack looking remorseful to a point he doesn't have hearts in his eyes anymore.

This all seemed very straight forward to both Lea and Lyran.

"Nightlight, you are such a smart friend!" Lea complimented, brushing his head lovingly with her finger. "If we show Jack the poem I found, he'll realize that someone truly loves him and try to fix things with Kate."

"I'll admit. That is an impressive plan. But how will we lure Jack in reading the poem? Along with him making it up to Katherine?" Lyran questioned.

Lea smirked. "Leave Jack to me. I'm gonna need you to pick up some specific flowers at the Garden of Eros, while I'm doing that. We're gonna fix this Valentine spirit for both our Guardian friends!"

* * *

At the Ganderly, Katherine was sitting in her chair, feeling lower than a snake in a ditch. She sniffled as she wiped a few stray tears.

Her beloved Himalayan Snow Goose, Kailash, honked in worry coming close to give her mother comfort.

"Oh, Kailash. Why would Father Time give me such a false sense of hope that I would be with Jack Frost?" Katherine asked with a small sobbing voice. "Then again, he never said anything about Jack being with me. Just that he will show his true feelings on Valentine's Day. Maybe this is a sign for me that I'm destined to never love."

Just then, a small flash of light appeared from behind. The only one that noticed was Kailash. She turned to see a familiar friend: Nightlight. Tilting her head with curiosity, Kailash went closer to give the small wooden toy a lift and made sure Katherine would seem him.

"Huh? Nightlight? What brings you to the Ganderly by yourself? You should be with Lea, protecting her as the Guardian of Courage," Katherine responded, drying her tears.

The wooden friend turned around to show a piece of paper taped to his back in response. This looked like a note.

Katherine got it off Nightlight's back and began reading it out loud. "**_'Katherine. Major Emergency. Can't do this alone. Please hurry!'…_**Oh, dear," she muttered in concern. "If Lea sent her trusted companion to find me, then it must be serious and mean she's in trouble! I can't let that kind of harm happen to any children on my watch! Especially my own friend!"

Getting up from her chair and forgetting her saddened state, Katherine took action by dressing into something more appropriate.

She put on a light-yellow long-sleeved shirt, a sleeveless golden yellow and white sleeveless top above it, a brown belt plus red sash around the lower stomach area, white pants accustomed with golden vines on the sides, and brown fur riding boots. As accessories, she had some steampunk goggles and a white quill feather on her left ear. Along with her trusty dagger carried in her holster attached to her belt.

"Kailash, I'm going to need your assistance. Same goes for you, Nightlight," Katherine responded, picking up the Guardian of Courage while climbing up Kailash before sitting on her saddle. "Since Lea has her crystal bracelet, tracking her should be easy with you, Nightlight."

The wooden toy nodded his head in understand, already coming down in front of Katherine to hold on tight to Kailash. The female guardian placed her goggles on from head to her eyes.

"Let's go find our friend. Let's go, girl!" Katherine exclaimed, feeling Kailash taking off in command at full speed.

Little did the Guardian of Imagination know, that this was all part of a certain blonde teen's plan.

* * *

It was now around sunset in New York City. Lea was at Lock Central Park, readying herself.

"Knowing Nightlight and Lyran, they're already on top of their assignments. Now, it's time to do my part," Lea responded, hoping this will work while getting her acoustic guitar out play. "Here it goes."

Taking a deep breath, Lea played 'I Feel it Coming' by The Weeknd ft. Daft Punk while walking around the bridge.

As she played; Jack appeared on the bridge. Lea sees him and then looks over her shoulder. To her great relief, Katherine was heading her way! Lea stopped playing and handed Jack a piece of paper.

"Jack! I need you to read this! It's super important!" Lea replied, not wasting any time. "It's a poem written by someone that loves you."

"For me? You shouldn't have," Jack replied happily.

Thinking that Lea wrote the poem, the lovesick Jack began reading it...unaware it was Katherine's love poem to Jack until the end. As he read, he felt...his affection for Lea slowly melt away...

"Jack, I am flattered you like me, but you need to understand that this can't work for both of us," Lea explained gently. "You are an immortal spirit who is needed by children in reminding them about the fun in their lives. I'm just a teen girl who's still trying to figure things out. We both know that I'll grow up until I won't be around anymore. You deserve to be with someone who has loved and waited so long to be with you for hundreds of years."

She placed a hand on the Winter Spirit's shoulder. "These feelings you have on me aren't real. But what Katherine has wrote about you is."

No sooner did Katherine came to the bridge and ran over with her dagger after getting off Kailash.

"Lea! I got your note from Nightlight! Are you okay? What's the emergency?!" the Guardian of Imagination exclaimed, ready to fight off evil.

She then paused when seeing Jack and Lea together! The female guardian was suddenly frozen in shock. Jack looked up at Katherine with wide, amazed eyes.

"Katherine, did you...write this about me?" he asked softly.

Looking down to notice what Jack has, Katherine felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment.

"...Yes. I had a much better poem than that," Kate admitted sheepishly while looking down in sadness before putting her dagger away. "I was going to give it to you today, but then I saw you showing affections to Lea and thought it was already too late for me. I respect your wishes in being with Lea, and I would never think so negative about it."

"But you were emotionally hurt, Kate. You should have told me you had a crush on Jack from the beginning," Lea replied. "What you saw earlier at the park was Jack under the influence of Lyran Desire's love arrows. He may like me, but only as a friend. Just as I do with him."

"And...Jack was under a love spell," Lyran added, coming in the scene with something behind his back. "Lea was just at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Same with Jack, apparently," Lea responded, seeing Lyran got what she wanted for the two Guardians before back facing her friends. "By the time we found out the situation, I used one of your snow globes at the bookstore to send Nightlight in giving you that emergency note, Kate. Because there really was an emergency: your love with Jack."

Katherine stood there in complete shock. It sounded crazy, but it all made sense. Jack was under a love spell, false love. None of it was true.

A wash of relief and joy came over her.

"Lea Thompson. Saw it before at North's workshop with Roy the first time you met the Guardians, and I'm seeing it again now. You truly know how to bring people together and remind them of not losing what they love," Katherine complimented with a grin.

"Same goes with Northwind from that Ever After world," Jack added, now turning his head to Kate. "So, Kathy, what's this special poem you have planned for me today?"

"Oh. Well, I'm not sure if you'd be interested, Frost," Katherine said blushingly. "Besides, after everything that happened today, I don't even know how you truly feel about me. Or if I still have the same feelings for you now.

"Which is why I asked Lyran to pick up a few things for just the two of you," Lea responded happily, nodding her Cupid friend.

The young Cupid teen stepped forward and revealed a mood rose from each hand to give to both Guardians. "These mood roses should show the truth of how you feel about each other when giving it to your following person."

Jack looked at the white rose in curiosity, amazed that it hasn't be wilted or frosted completely from is touch. These were no doubt magic roses preventing him from doing it.

Katherine was nervous on the inside while looking at the white rose that she must give to Jack. The Guardian of Imagination felt unsure how Jack will feel with her. It might turn yellow or pink as the symbols of friendship.

_'I waited this long to know the truth about Jack's feelings for me on Valentine's day. I might as well do it already, instead of wait another hundred years,'_ Katherine mentally said with a sigh.

At the same time, Jack and Katherine gave each other the magic roses to show them their true feeling. To everyone's amazement and shock...both the roses turned blue.

"B-Blue?" Katherine muttered, completely speechless and confused. "What...what does that mean?"

"I honestly thought you might have the answer to that," Jack responded to Kate, equally muddled about this, too. "I only thought roses come in red."

"Remarkable. Blue roses are very rare to be shown," Lyran admitted in fascination.

"Is that a good thing?" Lea questioned.

"Yes. Blue roses mean accomplishing the impossible, fighting all odds, and new beginnings," the teen cupid explained with a caring smile. "When choosing a path which has an untold, unexplained beginning, the heart gets crowded with feelings which are too deep to be described in words. They are the inner feelings of love and this excitement is shown through the blue roses."

Jack looked at Katherine. And Katherine looked at Jack. The two stared at each other, lost in each other's eyes. Both thinking what the other was thinking.

"I never thought in all my years as Jack Frost that I would finally find someone who loves me as myself," Jack admitted, giving a loving smile while placing a caring hand on Katherine's left sided face. "Besides the other Guardians, no one has ever given me this kind of love before."

"I feel the same way. Do you...still want to hear that poem I originally wanted to give you today?" Katherine questioned sheepishly.

Jack smiled, his eyes twinkling. "Of course."

Fortunately, Katherine can memorize her own work perfectly. Even the ones specially made for the Winter Spirit.

Talking a deep breath, the Guardian of Imagination slowly let it out before reciting her Valentine poem:

"When sadness falls on a snowy dawn,

I feel my joy is dead and gone.

But when I feel a sudden shiver,

I do not even quiver.

For who so brings the winter chill of fun,

Is the one who brings joy to everyone.

Jack Frost, a marvel of Mother Nature.

Someone I will always love and nurture,"

As soon as her poem ended, Katherine felt Jack's arms wrap around her in a hug. Surprisingly, Jack's hug felt...warm.

From a distance, Lea couldn't help but smile thoughtfully at this. Lyran, Nightlight and Kailash were doing the same thing.

"I take it you like the poem?" Katherine asked.

"I sure did," said Jack. "You really are amazing."

Katherine's cheeks were burning red. Without warning, she gave quick kiss on Jack's nose and watched his surprised reaction.

Lea and Lyran held back their laughs at this. They knew the two guardians were showing how much they care for each other.

"Looks like Mother Goose just nipped at Jack Frost's nose," Lea remarked.

"And the funny thing is, it's usually the reverse," Lyran added.

Lea and Lyran laughed as Jack and Katherine hugged before kissing each other...on the lips this time. Snow began to gently fall when doing that.

With the sun setting and the snow coming down softly, Lea decided to play 'Perfect' by Ed Sheeran with her acoustic guitar in making the mood for her two guardian friends even better. Turns out, she wasn't the only one. Lyran got out his lyre bow, shifted it into an actual lyre, and began playing the same song tune as the blonde teen.

Jack and Katherine soon slow danced together to the music created by their friends. They stayed around the bridge enjoying this beautiful moment.

From a long distance, Professor Paradox aka Father Time was watching everything with a proud smile on his face. He looked up at the moon to notice a faint smile showing on it.

"Told you Katherine will find her answers involving Jack, Manny. She just needed help from a few people in seeing the truth," Father Time commented, looking back at what he will mark as his favorite timeline to see. "For on this day marks the start of a new beginning and chapter."

How correct Father Time is. This was truly a Valentine's Day none of them will ever forget.

* * *

**Hope you all enjoyed this. And if you are interested, there are some drawings on Lyran Desire and Katherine in her Adventure Outfit. You may find them in Redbat132's gallery at DeviantArt.**

**Happy Valentine's day.**


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